Sunday 30 March 2014

Abernant Final Day

Sorry about the belated post (was catching up with some much needed sleep!). Class 5 arrived safe and sound from our fantastic week in Wales on Friday. On our final day at Abernant we participated in a range of survival skills tasks and activities such as the obstacle course. Children were sad to leave but also excited to see their families (and pets!) again. The instructors at Abernant were amazing and make sure that each child had a memorable experience, we will be writing thank you letters in class. I truly believe that each and every child has left with some incredible memories that will stay with them throughout their school life and beyond. On a personal level I would just like to extend the sheer amount of pride I felt at being the class teacher of such a super group of children, it was a real privilege to spend the week with them and see a different side to their personalities. I would also like to extend that gratitude to the excellent staff that accompanied us on the visit - Mrs Clewer, Mrs Petty and Mr Steggall - we made a great team and it was a pleasure working alongside you! Also a huge thank you to Mrs Newbould who was a massive help throughout the visit - it was very much appreciated! Finally thank you to the parents for ensuring the children were fully equipped for the visit and giving us a rousing send off and welcome back, I hope the children have told you plenty of stories!

I look forward to doing plenty of follow up work with the class in the coming weeks :)

Friday 28 March 2014

Behind the scenes at Moor Hall


One of the great Moor Hall traditions.
Coffee and daffodils before Mother's Day Assembly!


Thursday 27 March 2014

Abernant Day 4

Another great day on our penultimate day at Abernant. Children enjoyed abseiling and rifle shooting this morning, lots of children conquered their fears and were able to step over the edge! Plus myself and Mrs Newbould proved to be quite the team at rifle shooting! After lunch we went on a hill walk through the beautiful Welsh countryside. The sun was shining and the sky was blue - it was a fabulous afternoon - we had to take layers off! We walked through a field of sheep and lambs, the children were told to be quiet so as not to alarm the lambs - they were brilliant - you could hear a pin drop! The instructors of the hill walk said that we were the best group that they've had - what a compliment to the class! Very proud of them today! After our delicious dinner of braised beef/ pork/ curry/ vegetarian curry, 1 group went fencing, 1 went orienteering and 1 went on a blind trail. They all had great fun - the children loved challenging each other to fencing duels and for many of them that's been one of their favourite activities. We have survival skills to look forward to tomorrow, I think they could come in handy! The week has gone so fast, the main thing is the children have had a fabulous time and I'm sure they're all ready to tell families about their adventures. School will keep you updated as to when the children are expected to return. See you tomorrow :)

P.S. Hope you noticed the deliberate mistake of the use of the wrong 'their' in the previous blog - we like to keep you on your toes!

Chilling on the hillside........



Beautiful Welsh landscape.........




Looking very silly in our goggles for rifle shooting......


Strolling through the town...

Wednesday 26 March 2014

Abernant Day 3

Well we've had our most jam packed day so far!! A whole afternoon of kayaking and canoeing - it was brilliant. Weather has been good - the sun was out this morning! We hear its been a lot better here than at home! We enjoyed an evening stroll through the local village this evening, we had to be careful not to disturb the local donkey's. Some of us took part in an obstacle course which was great fun! 1 group participated in a nature trail where we observed a tree that had been struck by lightning. The children (and staff!) are having a tremendous time and children are fully immersing themselves in all of the activities - we still have a lot to look forward too. We all had a good nights sleep last night and every child has showered. The postman took the postcards this evening so hopefully parents will hear from the children by Friday. The children are currently enjoying a hot chocolate before bedtime :)

A group of children enjoying the nature trail.


Muddy Fun on the obstacle course!



Look blue skies!!!!


Children made there own raft.


Enjoying archery....

Canoeing fun.



Me in a kayak!! (I didn't fall in!!!!)

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Abernant Day 2

Well the good news is everyone got some sleep last night, ready for an exciting first full day at Abernant. We had a fabulous cooked breakfast and the children were very eager to win prizes for the tidiest rooms! Myself and Mrs Clewer were very impressed with the results! Children have completed a wide range of activities today, ranging from archery, rock climbing and zip wire. I even had a go! The children have all written postcards which hopefully will reach families by Friday. The children have all excelled themselves and many have new personal achievements. We are currently playing a game of wink murder before our next activity - initiative exercises.



Big Schools' Birdwatch!

On the 1st February this year, Class 4, along with Mrs Glare and RSPB visitor Martin Fisher took part in the Big Schools' Birdwatch. This meant that they spent one hour watching out for birds on our school site, and counting the number that visited us.

It is interesting to see how many of each species visited us during that hour. Our results break down as follows (click for a bigger picture): 

We have submitted these results to the RSPB and have received an official Big Schools' Birdwatch certificate and the official RSPB status of 'Bird Friendly School'.

If you would like more information on the Big Schools' Birdwatch, and to see the whole countries most spotted birds, please visit the RSBP Schoolswatch website.

Monday 24 March 2014

Abernant Day 1

Year 5 have arrived safely in central Wales for day 1 of our residential. We stopped for lunch in Welshpool and the weather has been dry and slightly windy (which is good for Wales!). Children were immersed straight into the action as soon as we got to the hotel, with children participating in fencing, orienteering, blind trail and bivi. The children are working well in groups and displaying good team work, they have designed room names for their dorm rooms and are enjoying filling in their activity books. They are all really excited and are looking forward to the week ahead! The food here is lovely, today children had the choice of: beef stir fry, BBQ chicken, gammon or vegetarian escalopes - no-one is going hungry that's for sure! We are ensuring that the children are appropriately dressed for the activities, though with all the running around the children do they're a lot warmer than the staff that's for sure! The instructors here are fantastic and the kids are responding brilliantly to them.

Massive thank you to the parents who waved us off this morning - I will keep you updated via the blog as to what fun things the children get up to :)

Some of the girls getting ready for orienteering:


Enjoying our lunch!

Ladybirds love being active!

As part of our physical development we have been having lots of fun on the climbing frame in the hall and the trim trail in the KS2 playground. We have been experimenting with different ways of moving around, under, over and through the climbing equipment.

Thursday 20 March 2014

Numeracy lunch

What could be better than having a great lunch with a tablecloth, cutlery, glasses and serviettes, and learning some numeracy facts at that same time? As you can see from the photos, we all had a great time.

Year 3 homework and spellings

Year 3 homework and spellings are now available on the website follow this path: children/year3/homework

Moorhens Robot Winner

Congratulations to Eliana Sison-Jones from year 1, for being the child who was chosen to take home the robot that the children had lovingly taken time to make. All the children who helped out with the project, had their names put into a hat and Elianas name was picked out of the hat by Amelia Raymond from yr 5.
Well done to all the children who helped out.






Industrial Action Update

Moor Hall School will be open to all children on Wednesday 26th March as normal. No classes will be closed.

Ladybirds' Self Portraits

Take a look at Ladybirds' wonderful self portraits. We think you'll agree we have some budding Picassos in our class :)

Click here to view all of Ladybirds' galleries

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Moorhens Competition

Click the image for a full-size version!

Moorhens Robot Project


 Having been given a large cardboard box, some of the children at Moorhens decided to make a robot.






All children had the chance to help out if they wished, as this project was done over a couple of weeks.















                                                               
The children used different materials from the bits and bobs
 scrap box to construct the face and body.






A couple of children made the eyes, eye lashes and others made the mouth.





The children came up with the idea of having a control panel on the front of the robot.





Ears were added, plus knobs and dials on the front of the robot.
Children then added  3 radars on top of its head.










 Now that the robot is finished, all children who have been working on it will have their name put into a hat. The name drawn  out will be able to take the robot home.

Monday 17 March 2014

Ladybirds' Measuring Work

Just a quick blog to inform you that we have uploaded some pictures of Ladybirds' wonderful measuring work. Click here to view Ladybirds' galleries

Friday 14 March 2014

Newsletter March 14th

A copy of today's newsletter has been posted on our website under news/newsletters.

http://www.moorhall.bham.sch.uk/newsletters


Year 4 essential information for parents

Y4 essential information to parents has been added to the Y4 web page - children/year 4/ useful documents for parents. The full document is downloadable from the bottom of the page.

http://www.moorhall.bham.sch.uk/useful-documents-for-parents-year-4




Wednesday 12 March 2014

Lord Mayor's Citizenship Week Debate

We have added photographs of our visit to the Council House in Birmingham on Tuesday 11th March. We had a memorable day.

http://www.moorhall.bham.sch.uk/special-events/125

Tuesday 11 March 2014

An expert comes to school.

Today Elizabeth and Rachel's mum came to talk to us at school. She is an expert on Rocks and Soil which is our science topic. She spoke to Class 3 and answered the children's questions.

http://www.moorhall.bham.sch.uk/childrens-work-year-3/122

Monday 10 March 2014

Japanese Students Visit School

We were fortunate to be visited  by a group of Students from Japan today. They came to school as part of their holiday in England. We listened to their singing and watched a tea ceremony. After that they came into our class to write everyone's name in Japanese characters. there was even a little bit of time for some origami!

Roald Dahl Books


Over the past couple of weeks the children have read a book written by Roald Dahl at home. Look at the pictures and you will see the fantastic work they have done after reading the book. There are book reviews, pictures, posters, models and even a cake! I am delighted with the work and very pleased that the children enjoyed reading. I will put some more pictures on the website soon. At the moment, the rest of the pictures I have come out sideways!!

http://www.moorhall.bham.sch.uk/childrens-work-year-3/120

Friday 7 March 2014

C'ass 2 Page Updates

Class 2 had a great day out at Sutton Park today.  I have uploaded photographs from today to the Class 2 section of the website.

Madeline and Daya have also been very busy at home creating PowerPoint's and posters on the computer so I have uploaded their work to the Class 2 homework section.

Thursday 6 March 2014

Year 3 World Book Day

The children in Class 3 looked great today, all dressed up as their favourite book character. Have a look in the Year 3 area for some photos!

World Book Day

Some pictures of World Book Day have been added to our website.Thank you to all of you who came in fancy dress... we had a lot of fun!

A gallery has been added under 'News - Special Events'

Class 2 World Book Day

We had a fantastic day here in Class 2 celebrating World Book Day.  I have uploaded photographs of the children in the Year 2 Children's Work Section of the website. 

http://www.moorhall.bham.sch.uk/childrens-work-year-2/117

Pancake Day at Moorhens

 
 
As a treat for Shrove Tuesday, children at Moorhens had the chance to try some Scotch pancakes with different toppings on. As you can imagine, they were very eager to test them out.The result was...they were a huge hit.